NFL gives officiating office authority to eject players remotely

Posted by Michael David Smith on March 27, 2018, 12:37 PM EST

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Ejections are no longer at the sole discretion of the on-field officials.

The NFL’s owners voted today on a new rule that authorizes a designated member of the officiating department to instruct on-field game officials to eject a player who commits “a flagrant non-football act,” if a foul for that act is called on the field.

If that same try to break his neck event happened to Gronkowski or Brady, the refs & security would execute the player versus a simple ejection. It’s incredible was allowed to stay on the field, simply incredible.

Maybe they need to call a little less gratis Pats & more in line with reality, we as fans are sick of it.

Why have officials at all anymore….just have a green laser shine on the player committing a supposed infraction with an ominous voice announcing it over the PA system….trust in Big Brother watching all.

This is going to be a fun year!! Can wait to see Gruden explode the first time one of his Raiders gets ejected remotely. Hopefully, this takes place right after a catch/fumble that used to be an incompletion but is being reviewed because the defense, while going for the fumble, actually hit what used to be a defenseless receiver who is no longer defenseless because he actually caught and then fumbled the ball.

I was shocked in both instances that officials did not kick the players out. These incidents showed a real reluctance by the referees to manage the game between plays. If the infractions occurred DURING a play, I have no problem with a mere PF. These occurred BETWEEN plays, and that makes the act premeditated and worthy of automatic ejection.

Was it ODB & Josh Norman a few years ago where they were going at it in a Sunday night game at NY, and ODB basically blindsided Normal in the side of the helmet while he was standing by the pile? Both guys could’ve been ejected from that game – and should’ve been, but ODB was much more out of control and there were at least 3-4 incidents that should’ve gotten him booted.

I also recall Aqib Talib tackling a receiver by swinging him with both hands by the facemask in a playoff game a few years ago – clearly a ridiculously dangerous play that should’ve gotten him ejected.

I can understand that officials on the field don’t want to be overzealous with ejecting players. Let the faceless person in NY be the bad guy when it’s necessary.

I can’t wait for this. Now lets see how consistent the “booth” is when a high profile player does something ejection worthy on a highly rated Sunday Night game. If they are trying to take the awkwardness out of the ref’s hands who seem to miss many of these WWE type disqualifying moves, there now should be no argument when a player should be disqualified. I applaud the NFL for this move, now lets see if they are consistent with this.

I think the NFL should do as they do with fines – administer the ejections AFTER the game is over. Since doing fines this way is such a detriment to the actions in question, imagine the quivering from the abusers to know after the fact that they were ejected from the game. And once the new game starts, all is forgiven. Maybe the player could even squat for the national anthem.

So the bean counters at the command center in NY have the power to rule on instant replay and player ejections. Interesting…the refs make close to $200,000 a year but now have less responsibility. Maybe a pay cut would be necessary to cover the cost of more bean counters watching the screens.

Good. The officials on the field are gutless to eject anyone for anything. Once players start getting ejected I predict that behavior will decrease. I wonder if Talib will ever play a full game next year because of this.

sb44champs says:
March 27, 2018 at 3:13 pm
The refs have a man-crush on Brady

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sb44champs says:
March 27, 2018 at 3:14 pm
Something tells me if the above scenario plays out in 2018, Evans will get tossed but Gronk won’t…
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That’s because most NFL refs have a bromance with Brady/Patriots

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The easiest way to tell where the bromances are is to look where the fixations are.

Just common sense. They have cameras to catch people running red lights. They have video to help catch shoplifters. Life sucks if you’re thinking about being a career criminal. But if you’re the property owner whos getting robbed, or the player on the receiving end of the cowardly cheap shot, youre fine with additional law and order.

Something tells me if the above scenario plays out in 2018, Evans will get tossed but Gronk won’t…
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Because Patriots stands for “Pay all the referees in order to succeed”.

The headline wording gave me a mental picture like someone having a handheld remote they could point at a player on the screen and push an eject button.

My next question would have been if I could get one and how much they cost.
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Good thing I wasn’t taking a drink when I read that, got an image of players disappearing from the field and others running into each other as their tackle targets disappeared. Or how about the center snapping the ball and no QB there to take it as he’s already been zapped out by one of the opposing team’s fans? What a hoot that would be!